SIR ANTHONY VAN DYCK STUDY OF A BEARDED MAN WITH HANDS RAISED. (copyright, Sotheby's, click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: IT made £457,250.
Another Van Dyck created when the painter was working in the studio of Pieter Paul Rubens will feature at Sotheby’s sale in London on July 6. (See antiquesandartireland.com post for June 10).
A Bearded Man with Hands Raised was painted around 1616 and is estimated at £200,000-300,000.
Sotheby’s has identified the model as one whom Van Dyck used for a variety of sketches. In the 2004 catalogue raisonné the painting was known only from the old photograph depicting it prior to cleaning and restoration. It was included under ‘Questionable Attributions’.
However, all scholars who have viewed the painting since it was consigned to Sotheby’s agree that it is an autograph work by Van Dyck.
George Gordon, co-chairman Old Master Paintings worldwide at Sotheby’s, said: “This work fits like a glove into Van Dyck’s oeuvre. The painting is a fine example of his working methods at the time he was painting in Rubens’ studio in Antwerp. This is a study of a man who appears in several of the artist’s works. It is a face we recognise from other finished works, with the model depicted in exactly this pose.”
UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £427,250